Headmistress barred from entering school

Our special correspondent

Aug. 9: The District Primary School Council, Calcutta, has barred Dipika Ghosh, the headmistress arrested yesterday in connection with thrashing two students, from entering Rajendra Siksha Sadan Girls' High School.

Council chairman Kartik Manna today visited the school on Prince Anwar Shah Road with other officials and spoke to the parents of the two students of Class II. The decision was taken after the visit.

The parents had lodged a complaint with Jadavpur police station on Monday accusing Ghosh of thrashing their daughters with a wooden ruler on Friday for refusing to clean benches dirtied by older students.

In the complaint, they alleged Ghosh had even punched the kids.

Police accepted a single complaint as both parents had the same grievance. Ghosh, arrested under sections 188 (disobedience of order duly promulgated by public servant) and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC, was released on bail yesterday.

"We have decided to bar her from entering the school. We have asked her to reply to a show-cause notice in the next 72 hours," Manna said.

A council official said they were convinced that Ghosh had thrashed the two children.

"This teacher has a history of hitting kids. She was transferred here from a primary school in Dhakuria as punishment after she had been accused of beating students," the official said.

She has, however, denied the accusation, he said. "We have asked the two students to attend school. They had stopped attending school from Monday for fear of Ghosh. We have sent a report to the school education department."

"My daughter was playing with a classmate when Ghosh summoned both. She asked them to go to the first floor and wipe the benches of students of upper classes," one of the parents had said yesterday. "When the girls asked why they were being asked to clean the benches, she hit them."

Another parent had alleged that Ghosh stuffed hankies in their mouths to prevent them from screaming for help. "The torture was repeated on Saturday."

"Our daughters were warned that if they revealed the incident, they would be given electric shock with a mobile charger," one of the parents had said.

The council has formed a four-member team, of which Manna is a member, to investigate the matter. "The team will submit its report in four to five days," Manna said.

The council will decide on the next course of action against Ghosh based on the report and her reply to the show-cause notice, he said.